Release Type

Release Year

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Label

Columbia

Album Overview

Is This the Life We Really Want? (stylised as is this the life we really want?) is the fifth studio album by English rock musician and former Pink Floyd bassist and vocalist Roger Waters, released on 2 June 2017 by Columbia Records. It is his first studio album in nearly 25 years since Amused to Death (1992), as well as his first solo album in 12 years since Ça Ira (2005). On 20 April, the single "Smell the Roses" was released.

Tracks

Track

Title

Duration

1

When We Were Young

1:38

2

Déjà Vu

4:27

3

The Last Refugee

4:12

4

Picture That

6:47

5

Broken Bones

4:57

6

Is This The Life We Really Want?

5:55

7

Bird In A Gale

5:31

8

The Most Beautiful Girl

6:09

9

Smell The Roses

5:15

10

Wait For Her

4:56

Notes

Written-By: Roger Waters
Written-By: محمود درويش

11

Oceans Apart

1:07

12

Part Of Me Died

3:12

Recording

The album was recorded at various times between 2010 and 2017. The song "Déjà Vu" was debuted live in 2014 under the title "Lay Down Jerusalem (If I Had Been God)". The song "Broken Bones" was debuted live in 2015 under the title "Safe and Sound".

Critical Reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone said: "The music is quintessential post-Dark Side Of The Moon Floyd, but channeled by offspring: Producer Nigel Godrich brings prog-rock grandeur, multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson microdose psychedelia, Lucius alt-R&B backing vocals. Drowned in Sound said the album is "a long, sprawling epic that stretches out for its slightly-padded running time, but one so full of ideas and intricacies that it's an easy album to get sucked into." Consequence of Sound said the album "is easily the most accessible of Waters' solo work—a distillation in many regards of the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-greed messages he's been broadcasting since Pink Floyd." Pitchfork said the album's "myriad sonic references to his work with Pink Floyd suggest that Waters is comfortable with his past. The more you accept how much his past reflects in his present, the more receptive you'll be to this album's charms."

Personnel

Roger Waters – vocals, acoustic guitar, bass guitar

Additional Musicians

Nigel Godrich – keyboards, guitar, sound collages

Gus Seyffert – guitar, keyboards, bass guitar

Jonathan Wilson – guitar, keyboards

Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. – keyboards

Lee Pardini – keyboards

Joey Waronker – drums

Jessica Wolfe – vocals

Holly Laessig – vocals

Credits

Arranged By, Producer, Mixed By, Engineer: Nigel Godrich

Engineer: Darrell Thorp

Engineer: Sam Petts-Davies

Strings [Arrangements]: David Campbell

Written-By: Roger Waters

Voice [Recorded]: Celia Drummond

Voice [Recorded]: Emma Clarke

Voice [Recorded]: Ingrid Schram

Voice [Recorded]: Jane Barbe

Voice [Recorded]: Kathy Somers

Voice [Recorded]: Rachel Agnew

Notes

Though previously confirmed by Waters, the track "Crystal Clear Brooks" does not appear.